Tonio Briguglio, chairman of the Students Maintenance Grants Board has resigned in the wake of the controversial circular, later withdrawn, telling some students in post-secondary schools that they were not eligible for stipends.

The circular was withdrawn after the government said it was issued without ministerial approval.

The Education Ministry, in announcing the resignation, said Education Minister Evarist Bartolo had been handed a report on how the circular on stipends was published.

Diane D'Alessandro is taking over as acting chairperson.

Mr Bartolo said government policy was to strengthen stipends and the government's position had remained consistent throughout.

REPORT CONCLUSIONS

In its conclusions, the report says that it was not the Stipends Board which decided to stop stipends for students following revision 'O' level courses. The decision was taken solely by the chairman of the board, Tonio Briguglio.

The minister was never consulted.

The report also notes, however, that there were technical-legal problems in the legal notice covering the stipends at issue.

Mr Brigigugio had been right to argue that subsidiary legislation did not cover stipends for students following revision courses in 'O' levels.

The legal notice had the title “Students in Post-Secondary and Vocational Educational Training Courses” and expressly said 'other than a SEC / O Level Revision Course'.

Such stipends, therefore, was presumed to have been introduced in the past through a concession by a former minister without the legal notice having been amended. However Mr Briguglio, was wrong to conlude that this stipends were illegal or without a permit. 

That the legal notice made no provision for this stipend did not make it illegal, once it was approved by the minister in terms of another section of the law. 

Although no such written approval by a minister had ever been traced, the board was obliged to take it 'for granted' that past actions were politically authorised.

The report says that Mr Biguglio made a wrong appreciation of procedure. The issue should have been discussed by the board and referred to the minister.

The board concluded that despite everything, Mr Briguglio appeared to have acted in good faith and it was not recommending disciplinary action. However it doubted that his position was tenable.

The investigative board was headed by Paul Bonello.

PN: MINISTER IS POLITICALLY RESPONSIBLE

In a reaction, the Nationalist Party said the Minister of Education was politically responsible for the stipends mess. The chairman of the Stipends Board was politically appointed by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo and the minister was therefore politically responsible for the decisions he took

PN Education spokesman Joseph Cassar said the report confirmed what was already known: that Mr Briguglio had become the sacrificial lamb and had to resign so that the Minister of Education could be absolved of all responsibility.

The PN noted that the investigation was not independent but was carried out by a board composed of people politically appointed by the minister.

It was clear, Dr Cassar said, that the reġport had a particular political agenda. .

The PN said, however agreed with the recommendation that the text of subsidiary legislation on stipends should be clarified.

See the report on pdf below.